wvumtnbkr Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 At this past WGI race, we had some radio issues.... We ran two different car harnesses and 2 different sets of radios. The harnesses made zero difference. The better quality radios made a huge difference. As per the other thread concerning radios, I am going to get a shark fin antenna. How do we make the radios louder? I could hear the pits talking to me while in the car, but could not understand a word (like they were whispering). I tried a set of speakers in my helmet as well as 2 different sets of earbuds. The volume was all the way up on the radios. I could hear just fine during the cautions. Our car is NOT that loud. We used to run the rotary and could hear just fine with those radios. The only thing I can think of is that my helmet is different this year. (Simpson Bandit) Any help or recommendations is appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbaker480 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 1 hour ago, wvumtnbkr said: At this past WGI race, we had some radio issues.... We ran two different car harnesses and 2 different sets of radios. The harnesses made zero difference. The better quality radios made a huge difference. As per the other thread concerning radios, I am going to get a shark fin antenna. How do we make the radios louder? I could hear the pits talking to me while in the car, but could not understand a word (like they were whispering). I tried a set of speakers in my helmet as well as 2 different sets of earbuds. The volume was all the way up on the radios. I could hear just fine during the cautions. Our car is NOT that loud. We used to run the rotary and could hear just fine with those radios. The only thing I can think of is that my helmet is different this year. (Simpson Bandit) Any help or recommendations is appreciated! 2 One thing I'd like to try is to cut the antenna harness to the correct length and solder on a new connector. I don't like the loop of wire we have going on. That could be limiting the range at the very least. It's possible that this is picking up interference from the ignition that didn't exist with the rotary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 (edited) Check to make sure the speakers are pressed up against your ears. The ambient noise in your helmet could be causing an issue. If the quality is down with your earbuds then it sounds like it could be a helmet kit issue or on the crew side. Make sure that the crew members are using the mics on the crew headsets right up to their lips. Might want to take the crew headset off and try it without but that is an extreme case as the mic on the radio without a headset will pick up all ambient noise and be rather loud to you as a driver. Also as Bbaker stated make sure the roof mount antenna coax is not looped. If it is, just run it round the car or cut it down to correct size. Edited June 2, 2017 by Shawn Sampson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead_42 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 You said earbuds... commercial stereo in ear headphones or specific racing earbuds with high end transducers? The sound level difference is elevator background vs orchestra concert hall... Racing earbuds, get you some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 (edited) The racing style are the only ones that work (mono vs stereo). They must be mono wired not stereo as all racing helmet kits are wired mono. If you run the wrong ones you will only get hearing out of 1 ear. Also, the ear bud connection in the helmet kit will get stretched out and then become a issue as well. Edited June 2, 2017 by Shawn Sampson 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted June 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 17 hours ago, Shawn Sampson said: The racing style are the only ones that work (mono vs stereo). They must be mono wired not stereo as all racing helmet kits are wired mono. If you run the wrong ones you will only get hearing out of 1 ear. Also, the ear bud connection in the helmet kit will get stretched out and then become a issue as well. And we just nailed the issue. I had no idea. I will be getting racing earbuds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3G Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 http://earfuze.com/storepage2.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technical Advisory Committee Chris Huggins Posted June 4, 2017 Technical Advisory Committee Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 19 hours ago, 3G said: http://earfuze.com/storepage2.html Those are stereo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chip Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 1 hour ago, Huggy said: Those are stereo? Looks like they have a couple of options for racing buds further down on the page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3G Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 I dont know as the helmet kits I have are stereo connectors wired with both connections to mono so all earbuds work in both ears. They are loud and and the custom fit molded ear filler really helps cut down outside noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takjak2 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 We have a lot of success converting these to a mono plug with short cord. Our short cord works well for a helmet connection without getting caught up in harnesses. Cheaper than anything above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ham Sammich Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 (edited) We've always had what I considered "weak volume" radios. I've got maybe 10 of the walkie talkie pieces. The one in the car died, we tossed a random spare in the car and it was what felt like 2 times louder (it was awesome!). Apparently there is some "sub-trim" setting on the radio so if you crank the nob it always goes to your favorite amount of maximum volume. All of the rest were trimmed way down... except the one. We'd have never know about it if we didn't have the one blow our ears out. Now we need to figure out where the setting is in the menus. So far, have not found it. It's almost like we bought the cheapest possible 'foreign' radios and there are no good online instruction manuals.... Edited June 5, 2017 by Ham Sammich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimsun Racing Posted June 12, 2017 Report Share Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) One thing we've noticed is you can get bad performance when your components are not all one brand. This especially happens with arrive and drives when a driver already has a headset in his helmet. I use form fit earplugs with 2 speakers in the helmet and Baofengs. The key to getting them to work was the correct antenna which was established by researching on the Baofeng forums. Also there's two types of helmet mics and only one of them works with the Baofengs. The nicest setup is a Stilo helmet with built in earmuff type earphones with speakers. They completely muffle the track noise and the speakers are inside them so you can hear clearly. I'm looking at trying to custom fit some earmuffs into a Pyrotech helmet because the Stilos are so expensive. Edited June 12, 2017 by Dimsun Racing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3G Posted June 12, 2017 Report Share Posted June 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Dimsun Racing said: The key to getting them to work was the correct antenna which was established by researching on the Baofeng forums. Also there's two types of helmet mics and only one of them works with the Baofengs. We have used both noise canceling and non-nc mic's on our Baofengs with success. There are must be more than two types. ?? Antenna's! Yes we replaced all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Sampson Posted June 12, 2017 Report Share Posted June 12, 2017 One of the biggest issues we see and hear from customers is that a NASCAR helmet set is not working with XYZ radio... We always suggest going with a IMSA Helmet set-up as they will work 100% of the time with different radios and systems (ie. NASCAR in car harness). A IMSA helmet kit can plug into a NASCAR system and work with the correct jumper 100% of the time but a NASCAR helmet kit might not work with a IMSA system and will not work at all in a incar base mounted radio set-up SO...To not have helmet kit issues make sure to have all your drivers run IMSA Helmet kits Hope this helps, Shawn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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